The best shopping experience categories also saw first-time winners. Singapore’s newest mega mall Vivocity was a first-time finalist and winner for the Best Shopping Experience – Shopping Mall category, while Anthropology Homeware Pte Ltd picked up the Best Shopping Experience – Specialty Store award. The Best Shopping Experience – Best New Retail Concept award, which honours innovative ideas to enliven the retail scene, went to fashion furniture retailer iwannagohome!.

A number of past-year honourees continued their winning ways by raising the bar in their service commitment. Robinson & Co (S) Pte Ltd bagged an impressive seventh win in the Best Shopping Experience – Department Store category while the ever popular Singapore Zoo won Best Leisure Attraction Experience for the ninth time. Home-grown entertainment icon, Zouk, swept two awards – for the Best Nightspot Experience and Best Leisure Event Experience for ZoukOut Singapore 2007.

This year’s winner for The Uniquely Singapore Award, which recognises the significant efforts and achievements that best encapsulate the essence, personality and inspiration behind the Uniquely Singapore branding, is the National E-Card Competition 2007. Organised by River Valley Primary School and Crescent Girls' School, the competition encouraged students to be tourism ambassadors, while instilling in them a sense of loyalty to and pride in Singapore. It also strengthened participants’ ownership of the Uniquely Singapore destination brand. It is an example of how non-industry players can make an impact on the tourism industry.

River Valley Primary School first organised the National E-Card Competition in 2004 and opened it to primary schools. Encouraged by the impressive response in the first two years, River Valley Primary School decided to open the competition to secondary schools in 2006, and Crescent Girl’s School came on board to promote and manage that new category. In 2007, the National E-Card Competition received an impressive 145 entries from 48 Secondary schools and 130 entries from 53 Primary schools. Approximately 1,130 teachers and students were involved in the competition. It is testimony of the competition’s great potential in encouraging the young to be Singapore’s tourism ambassadors to promote the Uniquely Singapore brand globally.

Celebrity chef and host of World Café Asia, Mr Bobby Chinn, received the Best Travel Story (Broadcast) award together with Mr Mark Francis and Mr Vikram Channa of Pilot Productions (Asia) / Discovery Travel and Living. The Best Travel Story (Print) went to renowned international journalist Mr Calvin Trillin for his Singapore Journal – Three Chopsticks feature in The New Yorker.

The sweetest victory belonged to Mr Victor Woo Wee Yeong from SMRT Taxis Pte Ltd. A finalist in 1997, 2005 and 2006, he is a firm believer that providing his patrons with excellent service is part of his job. His service commitment paid off when he was finally named Best Tourism Host – Transport (Taxi) this year.

To encourage industry players to raise Singapore’s service levels, Mr Lim announced STB’s new accreditation scheme, Singapore Service STAR. This scheme aims to recognise the industry’s service champions and inspire others to continue improving service standards.

Both the Singapore Service STAR scheme and the Tourism Awards aim to inspire the industry to adopt a culture of service excellence by recognising the stars who have made significant contributions to enhance Singapore’s image as a service oriented nation and a destination renowned for delivering memorable service experiences.

For more details on the Tourism Awards 2008 and past Tourism Awards, please visit http://www.tourismawards.com/

For a unique experience in Singapore, please log onto http://www.visitsingapore.com/.

Text and Photos Courtesy of Singapore Tourism Board. All Rights Reserved.